


No Place Higher

by Joels_revolver



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27609350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joels_revolver/pseuds/Joels_revolver
Summary: Ellie asks Joel if he can carry her on his shoulders.She didn't expect him to say yes.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 140





	No Place Higher

Protected in the sheltering cover of trees and boulders, Ellie is lying in the grass, ankle propped against her knee, leafing through an old magazine. The stream Joel taught her how to swim in is rippling behind her, the sound of splashing water carried over to her by the wind.

She's reading a women's magazine. Ellie skims through the articles, most are about make-up and healthy eating and _how to get the perfect body in time for summer_ , whatever that's supposed to mean. Most of it sounds pretty stupid, but Ellie can't help but find it fascinating how the world from twenty years ago was so drastically different from hers.

She leaves through the pages, looking at the pictures of women showing off their perfect white teeth, and perfect shimmering hair that falls just so over their shoulders.

And then she comes across a picture of a man carrying a child on his shoulders. Both are smiling into the camera like they haven't a care in the world, the father's hands (because who else could it be) securly holding the ankles of his child, while the kid has his hands in his Dad's hair.

That picture makes Ellie pause. She sits up, lowering the magazine into her lap. The longer she looks at it, tracing her fingers over the carefree faces, the more she becomes aware of an ache growing in her chest.

Ellie looks at Joel lying next to her in the grass, eyes closed, one hand on his chest tapping out a rhythm only he can hear. He does that a lot these days. Tapping a melody, humming a tune, sometimes he even whistles. He's been doing it ever since he gave Ellie that guitar, and Ellie realises that Joel really must have missed making music. It makes perfect sense, of course. Joel had told her that he had first picked up a guitar when he was about twelve and since then rarely had a day gone by that he hadn't played.

Until the outbreak.

Ellie can't imagine he played much during those twenty years, if at all, so him using every opportunity to make music now, even if it's only in his head, is perfectly understandable.

Ellie looks at the magazine again, at the child sitting on his father's shoulders, and that ache returns.

That, Ellie does not understand. How can she miss something she's never had in the first place?

She purses her lips in thought, looks at Joel again.

He'll say no of course, but it's still nice to indulge in the thought.

She knows exactly how the conversation will play out. Joel will say no, Ellie will make a joke about his age, Joel will tease her about her height, Ellie will kick him the shin, they'll have a good laugh and that'll be the end of it. Ellie will not ever know what it's like to be carried on a father's shoulders, but that's okay really. She's fifteen, not five, it's fine.

With that in mind she begins the predictable conversation.

"Hey Joel."

"Hm?"

"Can you carry me on your shoulders?"

The tapping on his chest stops, Joel opens his eyes.

3…

2…

1...

"Alright."

"Probably for the best given your ag- "

Wait a second.

“What did you just say?"

Joel is getting to his feet, dusting off his jeans. "I said alright, you coming or what?"

Without sparing her a glance Joel strides toward one of the boulders.

Ellie hurries to get after him. "Shit, really? I was just joking!"

"Nope, we're doing this." Joel leans back against the boulder like he's going to boost her up. "Climb up there and then on my shoulders," he says matter of factly.

"You sure?" Ellie asks, but she's already climbing on the boulder.

"Have you ever been carried on someone's shoulders as a kid?"

" ... no.”

"Then we're doing this. Hop on, I got you."

Ellie doesnt 'hop on'. If she hopped on she'd probably break Joel's back, not something she needs on her conscience. Instead she puts a hand on Joel's head for balance and hooks one knee after the other over his shoulders.

“All set?"

"I think so."

Joel straightens up, making Ellie's stomach swoop and her hands fly to his face so she doesn't fall back.

Joel grunts. "Ellie. My eyes?" 

"Oops, sorry." Ellie moves her hands from Joel's face to the top of his head and now with Joel's hands on her shins, they're literally the picture out of the magazine.  


"How's the view up there?"

And there's the joke about her height. Good to know some things still go as expected.

"Pretty awesome.'' She smirks. "Can't believe I'm on a motherfucking dinosaur. _Again_."

"Hilarious."

Ellie shrugs, grinning to herself. "I thought so."

Joel starts walking, moving toward the stream and Ellie's hands reflexively tighten in his hair, heels digging into his stomach.

"Ellie, stop fidgeting."

"I'm not fidgeting."

"Yes, you are. And will you stop pulling my hair out?"

Ellie releases her white-knuckled grip on Joel's hair (and she does not pull anything out, thank you very much). "It's just... is it supposed to be this wobbly?'

"In my defense, kids are normally half your height and age doing this."

"You carry a lot of kids on your shoulders?"

"No, just the two."

Ellie looks down trying to get a look at Joel's face. There's no trace of grief there, no shadow over his eyes.

_Good._

"Well, in that case," she says, straightening up, "I may not be an expert in maths, but I'm pretty sure you need more than two samples to determine what's _normal._ "

Joel huffs out a laugh. "It’s impossible to argue with you."

"Glad you see it that way."

Joel is walking the path along the stream now, toward Jackson. Ellie suddenly shoots up, craning her neck.

"Christ, Ellie, what now?"

"I think I can see my garage from here."

"No, you can't.”

"Well, _you_ wouldn't, all the way from down there."

"Whatever you say," Joel says, and Ellie doesn't need to see his face to know he's smiling.

They're passing under a tree and Ellie reaches her arm out to touch the leaves. She leans out to the side, too far apparently, because Joel is tumbling to the side, choking out an "Ellie, don't- " and then they're toppling over. Ellie frantically grasps at Joel's face in a useless attempt to hold on to something, before they're falling into the stream below them, landing with a loud splash.

Ellie breaks through the surface first. "Holy shit." She looks around. ”Joel?"

His head pops up next to her. "Jesus Christ."

Ellie can't help but laugh. ”That was awesome. Wasn't it awesome?"

"Yeah…” Joel says with a scowl, jerking his head and tugging at his ear, "highlight of my day…”

"That's what I'm here for."

Ellie starts swimming toward the shore, Joel the tall bastard is walking.

"Just so we're clear," he says, wringing out one corner of his t-shirt, "that was your fault.“

"Sure, old man, whatever makes you feel better." Ellie wades after him, but before she can step foot on dry land, she feels a shove against her shoulder and she's falling back into the water, landing on her ass.

"The fuck, Joel? What, are you five?"

But Joel is laughing too much to say anything.

"At least help me out of here," Ellie says, holding out her hand.

"Uh-uh, l'm not falling for that."

Ellie's hand drops into the water.

_Damn._

She grins at Joel who is still chuckling, grabs a fistful of mud and throws it at his chest.

Joel arches an amused eyebrow at her. "Really?" he says, wiping at the stain, "who's the five year old now?"

"You started it."

"Fair enough." With a tilt of his head he says, "c'mon, get outta there."

"You pushed me in, dickhead," Ellie mutters, struggling to her feet to catch up with Joel.

They start their way home, Ellie glancing up at Joel. There's a slight smile on his lips, one she’s been seeing more and more these days. It makes her chest glow with warmth and no small amount of pride, knowing she has a part in putting it there.

Ellie doesn't know a thing about her own father, doesn't know his name, what he looks like, what he is like as a person, but there's one thing she's absolutely sure of:

There's no way he comes even close to Joel.


End file.
